3582 Isn't A Real Tempo, Pass It On
by LiaLiaLiaLis
Summary: In which everything is the same, except instead of fighting the Heartless, everyone is fighting their own musical instruments. DiZ regrets the day he applied to be the concert band teacher for a bunch of high schoolers. Oh, and nobody is straight except maybe percussion. Xion-centric, cross-post from my AO3 account.


p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Xion sighed. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Great/span. Kairi's octave key had literally just snapped off, leaving her as the only alto saxophone player. And she'd just started learning last month, dammit! Each and every note was like torture, both for Zion herself and those around her./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I knew I should have stayed with the flutes. Also-fucking-lutely great timing, learning a totally new instrument so close to the concert./span/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""What the actual span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"fuck/span," she whispered, half to herself and half to the older girl. "What do I do? I barely know how to play any of the concert pieces! I've just been sight-reading because DiZ never gave me the music!"/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Kairi glanced up while continuing to fiddle with a wire. "You'll be fine, you're not bad at all! Just remember to breathe during the rests, especially when you're playing Land."/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Yeah, but what about Challenge? Should I play your part too?"/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Mhmm, just do your best and you'll be fine. I'll try to get this fixed before class ends, okay?"/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Alright…"/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"DiZ raised his voice above the din of typical band noises– shuffling papers, muffled (and impressively colorful) swearing, and loud, off-key notes./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Let's start with a B flat scale, everyone. I'll count you off. One, two, three." He tapped the baton against the stand./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"A nearly simultaneous note came from all the instruments./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"That's the worst concert scale I've ever heard./span/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"DiZ cut the noise with an exasperated wave of his hand./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Everyone stop. You aren't listening to each other. We'll start again, but this time, I want you to actually listen and count to four. Snare drum, don't play."/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"The band started again, this time in sync. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Scales aren't too bad,/span thought Xion. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I've got this./span Everything was working and she mostly knew what she was doing. Also, chords were fucking bomb./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Unfortunately for her, warmup ended quickly and they moved straight into playing. Hah, straight. Unlike her./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""We will be doing a full runthrough of the program today. Don't forget that the holiday concert is next Tuesday, so we need to start playing seriously– yes, that includes you, percussion. The order will be Wood County, Challenge, 'Twas, Land, Parade, and we'll be ending with Grinch."/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"She sighed in relief. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Wood County Celebration/span was one of the easier pieces; she could manage on her own. Probably. Of course, that didn't mean she didn't suck (the opposite, really). It just meant she was about the same level as everyone around her. That is to say, shit tier./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Wood County started off…. well, there was really no way to sugar-coat this. Percussion fucking span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"sucked/span, except for maybe the bass drummer. DiZ scolded them a bit, and they restarted. This second try went far more smoothly, and she'd only missed a few measures!/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"But./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"...Oh no./span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;""Take out span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"To Challenge the Sky and Heavens Above/span, please."/span/p  
p class="p1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"span class="s1" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Fuck everything./span/p  
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" /p


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